Strangers and Sticking Charms
by glasscandlegrenades
Summary: Late at night, a hooded stranger appears at Harry's bed in Gryffindor Tower and casts a spell. Another does the same to Ginny. Their enchantment transforms what was meant to be a rather mundane weekend of O.W.L. revision and detention into a bonding experience the young couple could never have imagined!


I originally wrote this story for the SIYE Strangers in the Dark Challenge. Just a few other things. This story is loosely based on an episode of I Love Lucy I caught a few weeks ago. I also haven't read HBP or DH recently or consulted them for this fic, so I'm sorry for any obvious plot holes. I hope you enjoy and happy reading!

* * *

The door, over a thousand years old, creaked loudly in protest at being opened so slowly. The hooded man cursed under his breath. It was an elementary mistake, really, not to have cast a Silencing Charm before entering the room.

Luckily for him, the occupants of the sixth year boys' dormitory were all deep in slumber, and none stirred.

The man drew his cloak more tightly around him. He knew he had a cheap Invisibility Cloak tucked in a closet somewhere at home, and wished he'd thought to bring it with him. Everything had been planned in such haste that this covert operation was much sloppier than he preferred.

He took a moment to consider his partner, hoping that by now she was firmly ensconced in the girls' tower, before stepping gingerly into the room, gazing at the head of each bed in effort to identify his target.

He easily recognized the snores of Ron Weasley, and ventured slowly to the right of the redhead's four-poster.

Harry Potter slept on his back, his brow creased in worry and his mouth slightly ajar. The cloaked man stared at him pitifully for a moment before raising his wand. A thick, yellowish vapour emitted from the tip, creeping across the bed linens and covering each of Harry's hands.

The man turned quickly, for there was little more to be done here. He exited the dormitory and made his way quickly back into the empty common room, nearly colliding with his partner, who had just flung herself from the girls' staircase.

She righted herself quickly. "That was close. Merlin, one of them is a light sleeper, I swear she opened her eyes as I was leaving."

"She didn't see you, though?" the man asked anxiously. "You were able to cast the spell?"

"So urgent!" the woman said. "No, no one saw me." She leaned in and pressed her lips quickly to the man's. She pulled back and drew her cloak more tightly around herself. "Well, that's done! Now, for the great adventure!"

"We need to get Invisibility Cloaks," the man grumbled. "Come on, let's go find my brother before he thinks we've been caught!"

And with that, the pair joined hands and stepped together out of the portrait hole.

* * *

Despite it being Saturday, and Saturday meaning his weekly detention with Snape in the dungeons, Harry Potter was feeling on top of the world.

The day was bright and beautiful, and Harry had taken the rather romantic initiative of bringing two plates of lunch from the Great Hall up to the common room with him.

"Quid Agis," he said confidently to the Fat Lady as he reached the portrait hole. She smirked briefly at the sight of him, before swinging open to admit him to the common room.

He didn't have to look far to find Ginny. She was sitting on the great red sofa in front of the fireplace, a mountain of textbooks beside her. She smiled brightly at him as he entered, and Harry felt his stomach do a little flip.

It had been two weeks since their kiss after the Quidditch final, and though Harry didn't see nearly as much of his new girlfriend as he'd like, the last days had been some of the happiest he could remember in a long time.

"What's this?" she asked, eyeing the plates curiously before huffing out a long breath. "Harry, I'm meant to be revising all day today."

Harry gestured to the window. "You said you were going to have a picnic with me today!"

Ginny raised her eyebrows and grinned. "Oh, did I?"

"Well," Harry said thoughtfully. "I haven't actually asked you yet, but I reckon you'll say yes."

Ginny was still smiling, but Harry saw her roll her eyes.

Harry walked over to the sofa, pushing aside her stack of textbooks so he could plop down beside her, setting the plates on the coffee table and, taking her hand in his. Ginny reached forward and looked under one of the napkins.

"Harry, my Charms O.W.L. is in two weeks and I haven't studied at all. I would love to sit by the lake with you eating… erm, Cornish pasty… but I'm to meet Vicky Frobisher in the library in ten minutes."

"Alright, alright," Harry said, raising the hand that wasn't entwined in hers in surrender. "Can we at least enjoy these few moments alone then?"

Ginny looked contemplative for a moment before quickly sinking back onto the cushion and pulling Harry on top of her.

"Yeah," she breathed. "I think we can."

Harry leaned in and their lips met. One hand still clutched in hers, he reached the other up into her long tresses, winding it there, breathing in the brilliant scent of her hair, relishing the feeling of her warm body beneath his, until…

"Alright," Ginny said with a sigh, breaking away. "I _really_ have to go."

She attempted to scoot out from under him, and was largely successful, excepting that her right arm dragged Harry with it as she made to stand from the couch.

"Harry," she said, looking down at their clasped fingers. "Really, I'm going to be late. Let me go."

Harry sat up as well, using his right arm to pull on his left hand, which was still clinging to her.

His eyes widened in confusion. "I can't."

Ginny yanked her own hand, and Harry's whole body was flung from the couch. He sat on the floor, rubbing his elbow.

"Bloody hell, you're strong, Ginny. What'd you do that for?"

"Very funny, Harry," Ginny said. "Let go of my hand!"

"I just told you, I can't!"

Ginny reached forward to the coffee table. Grabbing her wand with her left hand, she rapped it against Harry's wrist.

"Relashio!" she said firmly. Purple sparks flew out of her wand, but still their hands remained linked.

Ginny looked down at their hands, her lips going very thin, before looking back up at Harry and taking a deep breath. Harry felt rather afraid.

"Look, I'm not Hermione, alright? I grew up with Fred and George, and under normal circumstances, I'd find this hilariously funny. But this Charms practical is actually giving me a nervous breakdown, so please, just undo it."

"Ginny, I swear to you, it wasn't me."

Ginny moaned, looking down again at their hands and giving another forceful tug. Their fingers remained entwined, as if sewn together.

Harry was tempted to laugh, but he knew that Ginny had been seriously overworked by her exams these last few weeks. Her expression told him definitely that she was failing to find the humour in the situation.

"It's probably just some prank, Ginny," Harry said reassuringly. "I'll bet a first year got ahold of some Sticking Powder and spilt it all over the sofa. Let's go find Hermione, she'll set it right."

Ginny nodded sullenly, and went to walk around the left side of the coffee table just as Harry tried to loop around the right. They were both yanked back by the force of their own grip and smacked the sides of their heads together. Harry swore loudly, eyes watering, and Ginny cried out in pain.

"This is ridiculous," she said. "Just follow me!"

Harry shrugged, allowing himself to be pulled out of the portrait hole. They drew the stares of several classmates as Ginny led the pair down the corridor, her scornful expression only serving to empathize his own meek countenance.

"In trouble, Harry?" Anthony Goldstein chuckled as he passed the pair.

Harry only scowled in reply.

Ginny brought them first to the library, where she explained their predicament to Vicky Frobisher, promising that she would rejoin her roommate the minute she became unstuck from her boyfriend.

Vicky didn't seem overly-concerned; rather, most of her attention was devoted to the fact that the frogs she was trying to levitate were sprouting wings and flying away of their own accord.

Unsurprisingly, they were also able to find Hermione in the library, nearly obscured by a tall stack of Arithmancy books. She listened intently to their tale, making them repeat the part where Harry took Ginny's hand on the sofa several times. She took their joined hands in her own, attempting to pry each finger from the one it was linked to.

Finally, she took out her wand and rapped it smartly over their hands.

"Ouch, Hermione!" Ginny cried, but Harry was far more preoccupied with the thick, yellow fog that seemed to be emanating from his and Ginny's linked fingers.

"It looks like a Permanent Sticking Charm," Hermione said. "Though to work the charm so your hands didn't stick to anything you touched before each other is quite advanced charmwork…. Are you sure you were alone in the common room?"

Harry and Ginny nodded in synchrony. Ginny leaned forward anxiously.

"How do we undo it?"

Hermione bit her lip. "Well, that's the thing about Permanent Sticking Charms… they're permanent. Only the person who cast the charm can undo it."

Ginny looked angrily up at Harry, standing beside her and uncharacteristically quiet.

"I've told you it wasn't me!" he said, raising his right hand in defense. "Though I won't pretend I'm not enjoying all the extra time we've had together."

Ginny looked as though she could strangle him, and the corners of Hermione's mouth turned slightly upwards before she spoke again.

"Madame Pomfrey could probably use a Severing Charm, but it would likely take off some skin or a finger as well."

Ginny paled considerably and seemed to sway on the spot.

"We'll consider that a worst-case scenario," Harry said hurriedly.

Hermione looked between the two of them again.

"Who do you think would have some cause to stick the two of you together?" she asked seriously. "Who'd do something so utterly ridiculous just to get on your last nerve?"

Ginny's lips pursed and she turned and stalked out of the library, dragging Harry with her.

* * *

"You've got to be joking."

Dean and Seamus were sitting in front of a Wizarding chess board in the Great Hall. Ginny was facing Dean, her left hand on her hip and her hair flung over her shoulder.

"I know you weren't thrilled about how things turned out after the final…" Ginny said. Harry was doing his best to remain as far from Dean's line of sight as possible by standing slightly behind Ginny. This task was actually quite difficult, given that it meant he had to face backwards to avoid twisting his arm out of its socket, and because he was about a foot taller than her.

"Yeah, I was upset about the final because I _didn't_ want you to be with Harry. Why would I go and permanently stick him to you two weeks later?" Dean asked.

Seamus gave a barking laugh, which he unsuccessfully tried to turn into a cough.

"A sense of irony?" Ginny suggested hopefully.

But Harry could tell just from Dean's tone that it wasn't in his nature to play tricks on his ex-girlfriend.

"Look, Ginny," Dean said. "I swear it wasn't me, but if I hear anything about it, I'll let you know, alright?"

Ginny nodded. "Thanks, Dean," she said, before yanking Harry towards the entrance for the third time that day. Harry was privately starting to believe that Ginny would solve the problem of their attachment when she ripped his arm from his socket, but he tactfully chose not to voice this concern.

"Blimey, Harry, she's got you on a short leash!"

Luckily Harry and Ginny each had a hand free to flip Seamus off as they stomped through the great oak doors and out onto the grounds.

Harry looked out towards the lake, and with a pang of alarm saw that the sun was closer to the horizon than he had anticipated.

"Er - Ginny, maybe we should go to Flitwick," Harry said. "I've got my detention soon and Snape'll have my head if I show up with you in tow."

Ginny nodded, and they turned and made their way back to the castle, again drawing a great many stares and giggles as they passed through the corridors. Romilda Vane took in the sight of their linked hands on the staircase and whispered something surely unkind to her friend, who giggled in response.

Harry turned sharply, causing Ginny to stumble.

"She wouldn't, Harry," Ginny mumbled as she righted herself. "I don't think she could even if she wanted to."

Harry nodded before continuing up the steps.

Flitwick was little help. He was able to confirm that it was, in fact, a Permanent Sticking Charm, though Hermione hadn't given them much reason to doubt, but he seemed much more interested in the charmwork itself than offering the two students a solution.

"I do believe this is magic on par with the quality your dear brothers produced, Miss Weasley," Flitwick squeaked. "I doubt even a Severing charm would be able to counter this!"

"Fabulous," Ginny breathed, and she and Harry left the little professor's office just as conjoined as they had entered.

Harry was beginning to panic.

"Snape is going to kill me," he said.

"If he actually wants to kill you, he'll have to take a number," Ginny shot back.

"Are you still seriously blaming me for this?" Harry demanded, turning to face her squarely.

Ginny narrowed her eyes. "All I know is that you were moaning one minute about us not spending enough time together and in the next minute we became, quite literally, stuck together!"

"D'you really think I'd force you to spend time with me against your will?" Harry demanded. "I want you to _want_ to be with me!"

"I do want to be with you!" Ginny cried. "But I also want to pass my Charms O.W.L.!"

"Well, that's just…," Harry began, ready to shout back at her. "Well, that's great, actually. Can we just go to the dungeons so I can try to explain to Snape?"

Ginny nodded and Harry sighed, turning in the opposite direction down the corridor and dreading the reaction from his least-favourite professor.

They reached the dungeons quickly enough, and the door to Snape's office swung open, revealing the greasy-haired wizard looming near the entrance. His expression, already one of sheer malice, seem to multiple in contempt as he took in the sight of Harry and Ginny, standing hand in hand in front of him.

"Potter," Snape sneered. "This must be a new low. Even your father wasn't thick-headed enough to bring a date to detention."

"It's not my choice, Sir," Harry said scathingly. "We've been stuck together. Even Flitwick wasn't able to separate us."

Snape narrowed his eyes. He seemed to think for a moment, before speaking with a voice so thin he seemed to be hardly opening his lips.

"Potter, you are extremely lucky. Already today I had to right a disastrous attempt by Mr. Filch to make a self-replenishing toilet cleaner, and my patience for such incompetence has reached its limit."

Harry breathed a quiet sigh of relief as Snape continued.

"Your detention has been postponed to six o'clock tomorrow evening. Return without Miss Weasley or, I promise you both, you will be spending every evening from then until the end of term picking rotting flobberworms out of my stock in the dungeons."

Ginny gulped audibly, and Harry nodded, giving Snape what he hoped was his most insolent stare before turning and walking back up the corridor towards the staircase.

"Now what are we going to do?" Ginny asked. "Maybe we can talk to Dumbledore. I mean, this is ridiculous, Harry. We can't stay like this forever!"

Harry grimaced. He really, _really_ didn't want to bother Dumbledore with all of this, not on top of everything with the Horcruxes. But still, Ginny was perhaps more upset than Harry had ever seen her, and so he turned towards Dumbledore's office, walking quite slowly indeed.

The pair rounded a corner and found themselves suddenly face-to-face with Professor McGonagall.

"Ah, Potter, Weasley," she said crisply. "Just the two I have been looking for. Professor Flitwick sought me out and told me that the pair of you have found yourself in some predicament."

"We've become stuck together, Professor," Harry replied despondently.

McGonagall's jaw twitched minutely. "I've heard. I've spoken with Madame Pomfrey, and she believes she can get you a place in the Spell Damage at St. Mungo's tonight if you-"

"St. Mungo's?" Ginny cried. "Professor, no, it's not that bad, really, we were just about to go to Dumbledore and-"

" _Professor_ Dumbledore is away from the castle tonight, Miss Weasley," McGonagall answered sternly. "He won't be back until tomorrow morning. But, regardless, this is something of a concern and should be evaluated by Healers promptly. You can't finish the term with your hands Charmed together."

"We'll figure it out, Professor," Harry said hurriedly. Being away from the castle meant that he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on Malfoy. "Can you just give us until Monday?"

McGonagall raised her eyes and pursed her lips, but let out a little sigh and nodded.

"Off with you two, you don't want to miss dinner. I will see you in my office Monday morning if this is still a problem."

She turned sharply and made her way back down the hall, leaving Harry and Ginny anxiously contemplating their situation.

"If we get stuck in St. Mungo's I'm never going to pass Charms," Ginny groaned. "And my parents are going to find out about us, and-"

"Look, Ginny," Harry cut across her. "We'll go to Dumbledore first thing tomorrow, I swear. But for now… can we just pretend that everything is normal for a few hours? We can go to dinner, back to the common room. Maybe just try to enjoy the weekend?"

Ginny regarded him carefully. Harry knew she was still upset, and he suspected that a small part of her still blamed him for the Sticking Charm, but he'd been given a temporary reprieve from his detention, and he wanted to make the most of it.

"Alright," she said.

They met up with Ron and Hermione in the Great Hall. Ron, who had been apprised of their sticky situation by Hermione, found the entire thing immensely hilarious.

"Don't drink too much pumpkin juice, Harry," he chortled obnoxiously. "Have you had to navigate the loo yet?"

Ginny looked at Harry in horror.

"Er," Harry said, suddenly painfully aware that it had been hours since his last trip to the toilet. "I'm sure we'll figure something out."

Ginny pushed his glass of juice quickly across the table, giving a little laugh.

"I'm cutting you off."

The four of them speculated quietly about who could be responsible for casting the charm. The reasoned that it had to have happened somewhere in the Gryffindor tower, which meant that only one of their housemates could've cast the charm, since no one else knew the password.

Not reaching any conclusions, they trudged from the Great Hall and up to the Prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor. Ron and Hermione stood guard outside as Harry tactfully tossed his Invisibility Cloak over Ginny and cast a Silencing Charm as she relieved herself, but she reemerged from underneath her invisible lavatory beet red and uncharacteristically quiet.

Ron and Hermione were trying very unsuccessfully to hide their grins as Harry and Ginny walked back into the corridor. Ginny still said nothing, and Harry felt his own cheeks flush as the quartet made their way up to the common room.

Ron threw himself bodily into an armchair, leaning back and closing his eyes, while Hermione stretched out on the sofa with a thick volume spread across her lap. Harry guessed by the way she had surreptitiously covered the title that it was one of the books on the Dark Arts that she'd checked out from the library in her desperate attempt to find out more about Horcruxes.

Harry felt his stomach clench with a sudden anxiety as he and Ginny sat on the plush carpet beside the fireplace. He didn't want Ginny to know anything about the Horcruxes, and not just because Dumbledore had told him he could only confide in Ron and Hermione. Having her unaware of his true destiny allowed Harry to forget the prophecy himself when he was with her, as though he was just a normal teenage whose greatest problem was an inconveniently placed Sticking Charm.

He looked down again at Ginny's hand, entwined still in his own, and for the first time that day, applied more pressure to her palm. Ginny looked up in surprise, but then smiled, squeezing his hand back. She drew her free hand from the pocket of her robes, presenting a battered deck of cards.

"Exploding Snap?" she suggested.

The game proved even more suspenseful when playing one-handed, and a short time later Ginny bore a sooty face and Harry, singed eyebrows. Ron and Hermione, who had watched the animated match with great interest, stretched quietly and bid the others goodnight.

"Let's move to the sofa," Ginny suggested, standing and gently tugging Harry over to the settee vacated by Hermione.

They plopped down comfortably. Ginny stretched forward and grabbed a copy of _Which Broomstick?_

"You're so lucky you got to keep your right hand free," she muttered, using her left hand to place the magazine on her lap and flip open the cover. "Did you see the Harpies beat the Tornadoes four-hundred-and-sixty to ninety?"

"I heard Gwenog Jones sent a Quaffle through the Goal Post with her Beater's bat."

"They didn't count it," Ginny said with disdain. "I'd pay good money for a photograph, though."

She set the magazine down and gazed at him frankly.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Of course," Harry answered.

"Well, you know, I've been having all of these career advice sessions with McGonagall, with my O.W.L.s and everything, and the other day, well, after the Quidditch Final… I was thinking maybe I could play professionally."

Harry sat up straighter. "I think that's brilliant!" he exclaimed, and she smiled.

"I don't know if I'm good enough."

"You're incredible."

"I'd have to make captain my seventh year if I'm going to be taken seriously by scouts."

"Hell, Ginny, you can take the captaincy next year if you want," Harry told her. It was common knowledge that Harry found managing the Gryffindor team more trouble than it was worth.

Ginny settled back on the chintz sofa and looked up at him.

"Do you still think you'd like to be an Auror?" she asked.

Harry felt himself flush. He knew now that it was likely that most of his time after finishing school would be spent hunting down the Horcruxes with Dumbledore. He found himself momentarily wondering if that was something he could feasibly do while completing Auror training. The prophecy looming over him made it quite difficult for him to really imagine more than a few months into the future.

He turned to see Ginny gazing at him rather intently. Harry cleared his throat.

"I suppose," he answered lamely.

Ginny took a deep breath and looked towards the fire. Her hair swung as she moved, and the orange light from the hearth made her copper tresses seem like they were dancing across her shoulders.

"I wish I knew…" she began, but then gave a little jerk and stopped herself. She turned back to Harry and squeezed his hand gently for a second time.

Harry was suddenly struck by the enormity of the task in front of him. For Ginny, there was still life to be had, even under the shadow of Voldemort. For him… there was only Voldemort on the horizon. As she looked at him, her bright eyes burning, he realized that the closer they became, the less and less likely Ginny was to ever lead a normal life, to be able to extract herself from the black hole that was Voldemort and his Horcruxes. He felt an overwhelming urge to keep her at arm's length, which was difficult, given their current situation.

Ginny was still watching him, and he watched as her lip fell slightly.

"Where should we sleep?" she asked quietly.

"Well, I can't get into the girls' dormitory. The stairs won't let me up."

"I'm not sleeping in a bed with you in the same room as my brother and my ex-boyfriend, Harry!"

"Alright, alright," Harry said, raising his right arm in surrender. He grabbed his wand out of his pocket and raised it.

"Accio blankets," he murmured, and watched as the majority of his bedding flew down the stairs from the boys' dormitories.

The things landed on the rug in front of the fireplace, and Harry and Ginny set themselves to work fashioning a makeshift bed, climbing under the blankets still in the day's clothes. They'd managed the loo quite nicely, but Harry didn't think they were physically capable of changing outfits while still joined at the hand.

Ginny rested her head gently on the pillow.

"Well, goodnight," she said quietly.

"Er, goodnight," Harry replied.

They both lay flat on their backs staring up at the ceiling of the common room. Harry felt terribly aware of just how alone they were. He felt pressured to say something, anything to break the silence that punctuated their solitude.

"It's, er, warm by the fire," he breathed through his teeth.

"Merlin, Harry, this is only going to be awkward if we make it awkward," Ginny said, rolling over so she could face him. She reached up her free hand to run her fingers through his hair, letting out a deep sigh.

"Goodnight," she said again, letting her arm fall down so it was slung across his chest, closing her eyes.

He watched her for a moment before closing his own eyes and letting himself be lulled to sleep by the rhythmic sounds of her quiet breathing.

* * *

"Oi!"

Rough hands pulled Harry up from his pillow, and he heard Ginny grumble beside him. Sitting, he smashed his glasses onto the bridge of his nose to see Ron and Hermione standing in front of them.

"The entire house is about to come down for breakfast," Ron said in a rush. "I don't know what you two were thinking, falling asleep down here. You're lucky we found you, who knows what people would say-"

"Honestly, Ron," Hermione huffed. "What else were they supposed to do?"

Ron muttered something inaudible, and Ginny rolled her eyes. She and Harry stood, and Hermione regarded their rumpled clothing and messy hair. She narrowed her eyes and raised her wand, and Harry felt a sudden whooshing sensation fall over him as his clothes ironed themselves out and his hair was pushed closer to his scalp, though still retaining most of its characteristic messiness.

"That's better," Hermione said in satisfaction. "Let's get breakfast."

She and Ron clambered quickly out of the portrait hole, leaving Harry and Ginny to follow behind. Harry felt more refreshed than he had in quite some time, and he was trying to not read too much into that this was the result of the sleep he'd had with Ginny in his arms.

They ambled lazily through the halls, taking their time and Ron and Hermione hurried along ahead of them.

"Maybe, after we see Dumbledore, we could revise together," Ginny suggested quietly. "You'll need to do well going into N.E.W.T. year if you're planning on Auror training."

Harry stopped suddenly, looking down at her.

"Ginny," he said deliberately, praying she would understand. "After my N.E.W.T.s… I don't think I'm going to be able to go to Auror training."

Ginny's eyes widened just slightly, and then she gave a curt little nod. Harry sighed, before drawing Ginny towards him and leaning down, kissing her deeply. He felt her fall into his embrace, felt her heart beating against his own chest. He wished they could stay like this forever, and instead took a moment to appreciate that he still had a year left of school, a year that he and Ginny could be together, before Dumbledore took him off on whatever quest he had planned for Harry.

He pulled Ginny even closer, wrapping his right hand around her waist and moving up his left to weave through her fiery hair and -

"Harry!" Ginny exclaimed, breaking away. "Harry, we're separated!"

Harry, stunned slightly by their kiss, looked down in disbelief at his hand. He gave a dry chuckle.

"What the hell," he mumbled. Ginny, however, was shaking with mirth in front of him.

"Really?" she said with an exasperated laugh. "If you wanted me to spend the day with you, you could've just told me how important it was to you! You didn't have to stick us together."

"You know what, Ginny?" Harry said with a laugh. "I'm not even going to dignify that comment with a response."

He kissed her again, closing his eyes and once more wrapping his left hand in her long, thick hair. Ginny sank into him a bit, letting her lids droop as well, which was unfortunate, for if they had looked towards the Statue of Gregory the Smarmy at that very moment, they would have seen three hooded figures watching them from the alcove behind the bust of the old wizard.

* * *

 _Eleven Years Later_

No one remembered exactly how the tradition had started. Likely it was sometime around Victoire's first birthday, the first time that the family gathered at the Burrow to celebrate her entrance into the world and mourn Fred's exit from it.

Every year, on the second day of May, the children would play happily while the adults would nurse beers and recount their favorite Fred stories. It was Victoire's eighth birthday today, and the tenth anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts.

Spirits were slightly lower than usual, with no one truly wanting to acknowledge how quickly the decade had passed. Still, everyone was making a conscious effort to remain upbeat, and this year's Fred stories had become something of a greatest hits album, with the classics being told again and again from different perspectives.

Ron had happily finished the tale of his brothers' attempt to bind him into an Unbreakable Vow, and their father's ensuing anger, when George and Angelina reentered the sitting room, carrying a rather cranky Roxanne, who had just awoken from her nap.

"Alright - alright," Ron said with a laugh. "Now that we've all got the image of Fred's permanently altered left buttock on the brain, it's someone else's turn. Angelina, all-time favourite Fred prank?"

Angelina, momentarily distracted as she sat in a rocking chair and lifted her shirt to offer a breast to her squirming daughter, glanced up at the rest of the family, stationed around the room.

"Hmm… favourite Fred Weasley prank?" she mused contemplatively, as she began rocking the baby back and forth. Her eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh, that's easy! The only one I was allowed to be apart of… the Permanent Sticking Charm!"

George's eyes became very wide as he glanced between his wife and his sister, heavily pregnant with her third child and sitting beside her husband on the sofa. Ginny seemed not to have noticed Angelina's comment, for she was whispering something to Harry, who laughed and rubbed her stomach affectionately.

"Er, Ange," he muttered. "I don't think we ever really fessed up to-"

"Permanent Sticking Charm?" Percy asked in a carrying voice. "I don't think I've ever heard that one before."

"You know," Hermione said. "I don't think I have either."

George's face was beginning to feel very hot indeed. Ginny was still staring intently at her stomach, but Harry had looked up curiously at the sound of Percy's booming voice.

"Sure, you have," Angelina said, switching Roxanne from one breast to another. "It was a classic! Ron wrote to Fred and George just after Harry and Ginny got together… when was it? Merlin, it must've been April or May of '97. Can you believe it's been that long? Anyways, Ron wrote to Fred and George to tell them that Harry and Ginny were dating, but that Harry had been complaining a bit because, between his detentions and Ginny's O.W.L.s, they never got to see each other."

George, wanting nothing more in this moment than to disappear from the very spot, chanced a glance at Harry and Ginny, who were both staring at Angelina open-mouthed. It would've been comical if he wasn't aware that the end of this story would likely be accompanied by great, flying bogeys making their way out from his nose.

Roxanne seemed quite content on her mother's chest now, so Angelina looked up at her audience, all listening with rapt attention. "Fred and George thought they'd give poor Harry a hand, literally, so they decided to sneak into the castle to place a Permanent Sticking Charm on the two of them. You remember, don't you?" she asked Harry and Ginny, who, much to George's despair, seemed to remember all-too-well.

Angelina continued. "Anyways, that was when Fred and I were still seeing each other, before everything happened with Voldemort taking over the Ministry. I think he only asked me to help because you two needed someone who could sneak into the girls' dormitory and cast the Charm on Ginny."

Roxanne suddenly gave an angry squak, and Angelina looked back down to attend to her baby daughter, leaving George to face Harry and Ginny. Harry's mouth was still hanging slightly open, as if Stupefied, but Ginny's lips were pursed and her eyes had narrowed.

"Oh, fuck," George muttered. Ron looked like Christmas had come early, and Hermione was glancing uneasily between the two couples as though there was a chance they'd start firing curses at one another. Though, actually, knowing Ginny, Hermione's fears were quite founded.

Harry turned gleefully towards his wife. "I told you! I've been telling you for eleven years it wasn't me! It was those three sneaking around the school! D'you believe me now?"

"That was you?" Ginny asked George quietly.

George felt quite sick but attempted to save face. "Did you not listen to the story, Ginny? It was Fred and Angelina."

Ginny sat up straighter, a feat that took several moments given the vast size of her stomach.

"I got an 'E' on my Charms O.W.L., did you know that?" Ginny asked.

"Surely one day of revision wouldn't have brought it to an 'O'," George said. Roxanne was crying in full again, and Angelina stood from the chair, utterly consumed with motherhood and blissfully unaware of the scene she had created in the living room. She walked out, murmuring to her baby in soothing tones.

"You almost destroyed our relationship!" Ginny said.

"We were trying to do you a favor!" George replied. "You two got to spend a full twenty-four hours together before everything went to hell!"

"How did you even manage to get into the castle?" Ginny asked. "Or through the portrait hole without the password?"

Harry's head shot up. "The curse was broken right beside Gregory the Smarmy! You came in that way?"

"I guess no one had thought to put Dementors there," George said.

"And the dormitory?" Ginny asked.

"We hid behind that tapestry next to the Fat Lady for a few hours," George admitted. "Someone came along and said the password, and then Fred and Angelina went through. You know she'll let anyone in if they know the words."

"I can't believe you even remember all that," Ron said appreciatively.

"It _was_ a pretty good one," George said fondly. "We'd definitely had a few that night."

Ginny was still scowling, but George was thrilled to see Harry elbow her lightly.

"Everything ended up alright, Ginny," her husband told her. There was suddenly a great commotion from the kitchen, and James and Albus came running into the living room in a fit of screams and giggles, chased by their cousin Fred, wielding a particularly lumpy garden gnome, which was spitting a plethora of colorful swear words at the three boys.

Ginny's eyebrows raised for a moment, before she looked at her brother and winked.

"Everything ended up alright," she repeated.


End file.
